After a week in IJmuiden we left to go up to Central Amsterdam. To access the canal you go through the sea locks and down onto the North Sea Canal. This canal is used by a lot of commercial shipping, we were shadowed most of the way by a Superyacht Scout. We also passed a cruise ship heading out as we approached Amsterdam. We stayed 2 nights at Sixhaven marina. This was a great place to stay, quiet but only a few minutes on the free ferry to Amsterdam Central Station. We had booked tickets for Keukenhof on Friday, this is a world famous tulip garden. As mentioned in our… Read More
Continue ReadingAcross the North Sea
As we mentioned in our last update we were planning to head to the Netherlands early April but we did not leave Burnham until the 12th April. We had number of problems to deal with before we could leave. Some were minor such as the diesel heater switch that fell apart in Graham’s hand. More seriously the new sail sliders would not pass freely over the gate on the mast as the battens had sliders with outer wheels. A number of phone calls later and it became obvious that an off the shelf solution did not exist. Graham drew up a plan for a new gate cover to be made… Read More
Continue ReadingAnother trip begins
Over the winter Island Girl was hauled out. A number of essential maintenance tasks were carried out. Antifoul was applied, anodes replaced and just after the new year, it was back in the water. A trip up the mast was required as during an inspection Graham made in the Autumn he found a corroded split pin (cotter pin in the US) that needed replacing, these are only 3 years old so really should not have suffered from serious corrosion. It was similar to the one that failed in Ramsgate. This time it was at the top of the mast and out of sight. Fortunately, the old corroded pin came out… Read More
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